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It is important, first, to point out that a football team should never have to deal with their bus being pelted by missiles as they make their way to a game.

The West Ham fans who took part on Tuesday night, in full view of young children who were trying to enjoy their last trip to Upton Park, should be ashamed. Hopefully they won't find it so funny when the police are knocking at the door.

Because everyone has a video camera in their pocket, it was no surprise that while the bus was still being showered with bottles on Green Street, images of the chaos were already being shared on social media.

But then a video appeared of what was happening inside the bus. And that was a surprise. First of all because there was a video at all, and secondly because of what it showed.

West Ham fans pelted the bus with bottles and cans.

Jesse Lingard – an academy graduate in his first full season with the first team - is filming and in the background, Anthony Martial and Adnan Januzaj are rolling around in the aisle. Michael Carrick is also capturing footage on his phone and at one point someone shouts 'mummy'.

The players were on their way to arguably the biggest game of the season. Instead, the scene looks more like a group of kids on a school trip who have shouted a swear word at a cyclist but haven't managed to lose him at the lights.

Roy Keane had a number of run-ins with Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira.

Remember Roy Keane telling Patrick Vieira he would 'see him out there' in the tunnel at Highbury in 2005? It was the opposite of that.

It's not to say that Lingard, Carrick, Martial and Januzaj should have been sat in their seats glaring out of the window in the way Gary Pallister and Eric Cantona were when United arrived in Istanbul to play Galatarasay in 1993.

There is, though, a middle ground.

It made sense to move the players away from the window to avoid David De Gea getting a brick in the face. But there was room for everyone to sit down and focus on a game that had already been made more difficult because of the disruptions to their preparations.

A member of the United party on the bus inspects the damage.

It's hard to imagine Bryan Robson, Steve Bruce, Gary Neville, Peter Schmeichel, Keane, Pallister or Cantona letting their team-mates scream and giggle on the floor in the same situation. But, then, they were all leaders. The type of player United are missing.

Wayne Rooney was almost alone in his effort and drive when the game finally did kick-off. It might not have been his best game in terms of quality.

But it at least looked like he realised it was a golden chance to get into the Champions League and boot neighbours City into the Europa League, all while spoiling a party for the fans who had just smashed up their bus. Few others seemed to register the importance.

Wayne Rooney did his best to drive United forward.

There is an argument that the United players were trying to make light of the situation to show they weren't affected by the stupidity of the West Ham fans. Having a laugh and a joke is an important part of any team, but there is a time and a place.

And Lingard's video makes them look like a bunch of kids. Kids who, for large parts of the game, were bullied by a focused West Ham.

They started slowly and were behind inside 10 minutes. Leading 2-1, their fragile mental strength was exposed again when they conceded twice in the space of four minutes to lose 3-2. It will likely cost them a place in the top four.

As Louis van Gaal pointed out, it is impossible to know what affect the delay and the missile throwing had on the performance.

But it was a rare look inside the United dressing room on one of the most crucial days of their season. And they didn't come out of it well.